A day in Bruges then back to Deinze

Saturday morning arrived in a flurry of wind and rain.  Really not pleasant at all and not a day to do a long trip on the canals.  A day of sightseeing in Bruges seemed a much better idea. 

Penny in the Minnewater Park

Onze Liewe Vrou Church

In the church there is an statue by Michelangelo.  Fabulous.

Sint Slavator Cathedral

Entrance to the Begijnhof

The Pastorie

Katelijnstraat

We all loved Bruges.  Ian and I have been here once before on our motorbike travels and loved it then.  I also spent some time making a Pork Vindaloo curry for dinner.  And we polished off a few more bottles of cider!

Sunday dawned cloudy and cool, but no rain and no wind.  We set off for Deinze at 9.50.

We passed the caravan park again, here a couple of the fancier ones.

This is not the most interesting stretch of waterways we have travelled but the main aim is to show Oliver and Penny the Kromme Leie River between Deinze and Gent, which is our favourite waterway so far.  Both of them are seasoned boaties who have been off the water for many years and they enjoyed getting in the swing of things again.

Waiting for a bridge to open.

Chaos with 4 people on a small boat!

We arrived in Deinze at about 3.30 and tied up at the public quay in front of the church.  

A plaque with the history of the church.

which tells me that the first church on this site was built in the 9th century, some famous abbot was born here and he brought back some holy relics from the Holy Land.  The present building dates from the 14th century when it replaced the old church which was destroyed in a fire.It is a fine example of Shelde Gothic.  In 1988 the third carillon, one of the biggest in the world, was installed in the tower.

 Lynn and Shaun arrived on Elle about an hour later - we last saw them on Friday morning. 

Since then they have found a place to leave their boat in the summer, at a yacht club in Kuurne. (We have decided to leave our boat with FluviaLys, who will take the boat out of the water).

There was a fair in full swing in the Market Square in Deinze with dodgem cars and all the usual "win a prize" games with hoops and balls.  Lots of raucus music, and stands selling frites.  Oliver and Penny bought some for us and we settled down for an evening drink with frites on the quay side

 which turned into a barbecue that lasted till almost midnight.

Much fun was had by all, and we consumed a few more ciders!

Tomorrow we do the Krommer Leie River, then a few kms on the Ringvaart around Ghent, then onto the Ghent-Bruges-Ostend Canal back to Bruges because Oliver and Penny must leave us on Tuesday morning .